It is well known in the art of modern guitar playing to provide background visual effects that pleasingly enhance the performance of the guitarist. When these visual effects are further incorporated into the instrument itself, an additive pleasure is often experienced by the audience.
Advancements in electronics, including development of new devices and higher parts density due to miniaturization have allowed visual illumination effects to be incorporated into modern guitar construction.
Arrays of colored light sources, masked and hidden within the guitar body produce light rays that impinge upon plastic walls of the guitar body to further produce a diffused uniform field of varying colored light.
In other embodiments, fiber optic strands are employed to transmit light from a source hidden within a guitar body to external locations on the guitar, thus allowing it to be played in the dark and to further produce a pleasing aesthetic effect.
Guitar music has been converted into visual illumination effects in some guitar embodiments by the employment of hidden dynamic microphones that convert audio tones into electrical control pulses that further modulate the light sources embedded in the guitar body. In another embodiment, the strumming of the guitar strings produces electrical continuity between a guitar string and a fret, causing a light source or array to be intermittently illuminated in concert with the music tones.
These embodiments lend visual effect to the performance of the guitarist. Their effect is controlled by the overt action of the guitarist making a conscious effort to activate switch mechanisms. It would seem to be novel and desirable to further achieve visual illumination effects while the guitarist is performing his or her natural spontaneous motions.
The prior art searched did not disclose any patents or publications that were directly related to a dynamically illuminated guitar of the type disclosed herein. However, the following U.S. patents were considered in the investigation and evaluation of the prior.art relative to the existing apparatus used with the invention.
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. INVENTOR ISSUED ______________________________________ 3,958,113 Termohlen 18 May 1976 3,943,815 Gilbert 16 March 1976 3,854,370 Sapinski 17 December 1974 3,403,581 Weitzner 1 October 1968 3,324,755 Canonico 13 June 1967 ______________________________________
The Termohlen patent described a masked light emitting means for generating a solid field of uniform colored light which glows and changes hue with variations in tone frequency as the guitar is played. The Gilbert patent describes a guitar containing fiber optic strands extending through the neck to conduct light from a source located in the body to fret markers on the fretted surface of the neck and the side surface. The Sapinski patent describes a training aid for a stringed musical instrument employing a light-transmitting substrate. The Weitzner patent comprises apparatus for displaying and cuing music in connection with a manually played string instrument in which playing of the instrument is coordinated with the display. The Canonico patent describes a guitar in which lamps illuminating transparent parts of the guitar are disposed inside the hollow body of the guitar and controlled by switches outside the guitar.